A Lot Can Happen in 1,000 Days

So, last week, my mom, my brother, my sister in law and I headed into New York City to see the currently running production of Our Town, by Thorton Wilder.

Our Town is one of my favorite plays, it’s kind of bulletproof in my opinion but this production, which features an all star cast including Jim Parsons, Katie Holmes and Zooey Deutch, to begin with is really fantastic. Parsons was our main attraction, but I was excited to see another Dawson’s Creek kid on the great white way. (I saw Joshua Jackson in Children of A Lesser God a few years back.) And while I’ve always enjoyed Deutch, I wasn’t overly thrilled with the idea of her playing Emily, a particularly tricky role.

Deutch killed it. By Act III, when Emily learns to accept her death and pleads with the phantom of her mother to slow down and “just look at me for a moment,” will always get me crying, but Deutch added enough naivite to her delivery to make me lose it.

I of course failed immediately at the plays plea and pulled my phone right out. (Whoops) But, we also walked around the city, and went to see the tree, and to mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Then we met up with my cousin’s wife Kristi. (You’ll hear a lot about Kristi, she’s one of my closest friends.) Ate Italian food, caught up, and headed home.

It was just, nice, really. It had been a long time since I’d been to theater, I recently moved further from the city, and I move it.

What I’m Reading:

Emma of 83rd Street by Audrey Belleza and Emily Harding

Emma is my favorite Jane Austen novel, which I like to parade around as a sign that I’m less basic than other people. Something Emma would totally do. I’ll always watch an adaptation of it, or read a retelling. Modern retellings of Emma of course have the unenviable task of living up to Clueless. That’s a tough assignment. Emma of 83rd Street is an adorable retelling, set on New York’s Upper East Side, and our Emma is a 23 year old art history grad student, our Knightley is the boy next door, and the banter is top notch. It hit all the beats, I was perfectly satisfied.

Iron Flame (Graphic Audio)

I put off listening to Part II until this weekend because I didn’t want my mother to be around, or to be at work, when “My house, my chair, my woman,” hit. I’m not apologizing. What I’m Watching:

Bad Sisters Season 1

When 4 sisters decided to free their other sister from an abusive marriage, by murdering the guy, they embark on a odyssey of self discovery Irish dark comic perfection. This show is amazing, everyone should watch it. Thoughtful, entertaining, twisted and stunning visually, I can’t wait to dive in to season 2.

The Sugarland Express:

More Spielberg! More car chases! Young Goldie Hawn. This movie was slower, quieter and more interesting than I expected. It’s not great, if I’m honest. Hawn is obviously impossible to criticize. She’s so magnetic and charming, you’re just drawn to her. The car chases are fantastic and the mid century “urban legends” type storytelling is interesting but not committed too fully. It’s always cool to watch the early stumblings of a great artist though. This is definitely that.

What I’m Listening To:

Iron Flame (Graphic Audio): (See above)

Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 (Original Broadway Cast Recording)

There comes a time in every person’s life where they have to come to the table and admit that an artistic eco system they’re fond of, doesn’t deserve a work of art that they love. And that’s how I feel about The Great Comet. Broadway doesn’t deserve this gem of a musical, an operatic adaptation of 120 pages of War And Peace, creative, fiery, a little odd, and totally compelling. I love it so much and it makes me feel so good and inspired whenever I listen to it.

What I’m Cooking

I got sick (again FUCKING WINTER) but before that I did make some pulled pork in the crock pot, and I’ve been doing leftovers stuff with it. A sandwich, some hash in mornings, some really killer ramen while I wasn’t feeling well enough to do a whole meal, but well enough to chop some onions.

I don’t overthink pulled pork, I have in the past and wound up with pounds of shredded pork that tasted like skunked beer. Nope, just a piece of pork shoulder, chicken stock, salt, pepper, garlic and chili powder, let it sit all day and then shred it up.

Sides this time I bought, potato salad, cole slaw and corn muffins. DELICIOUS.

News And Links And Other Stuff

I got the paper proof of Anything Other Than You and I’ll be reading through it looking for typos. You can sign up for an ARC of this show biz, small town, soap opera influenced rom com, with Notting Hill vibes and steamy sex scenes and cut dog, sign up for the ARC!

ARC Sign Ups

And you can pick up the first 5 books in The Marina Chronicle on Amazon

Also on Sunday I finished up a draft of my upcoming Paranormal Romance Can’t Fight The Moonlight which I’m hoping to get together in time to release this fall. But even when I hadn’t finished the first draft I comissioned art of the leads Evelyn and Kieran by Dryelli Bioni (ByByOny on various socials! A delight of an artist and person) So to celebrate, here’s a look.

As always, you can read my random yappings on Threads and now Bluesky see occasional pictures when I remember on Instagram! See me summarize my thoughts on books in yippee one liners on Goodreads

I have something exciting planned for next week and I can’t wait to share it with y’all!